Category: UW Experts in the News

A panel of labor rights activists at the University of Wisconsin Wednesday called for the United States Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to ensure employeesâ?? right to unionize.

The progressive tradition that Stern noticed was legendary in an earlier era. Tony Michels, a professor of Jewish and labor history at the University of Wisconsin, said that in the â??30s, labeling a union as Jewish was often a shorthand way of describing its socialist politics. A number were further to the left, which is to say, communist.

Quoted: Some residents asked about the safety of children. Scott Craven, a UW-Madison wildlife ecologist and expert on dealing with urban wildlife, said any such threat is very small.

“In the bigger scheme of things, the threat posed by coyotes is infinitesimally small, but not zero,” Craven said.

College is an investment in a student’s future. That’s a good thought to keep in mind as financial aid offers arrive this spring. The high school class of 2009 is the biggest class of entering freshmen ever; at a time when there’s less money being made available to pay for school.

“First we’ve seen a lot in the news about private lenders withdrawing from the student loan funding side. There’s been a reduction in the amount of money available for basic student loans, ” notes University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.

Quoted: Dr. Sarah McAchran, with UW Hospital and Clinics’ department of urology, said Botox injected into the wall of the bladder using a cystoscope has helped people with such neurological disorders as multiple sclerosis or Spina Bifida, reducing the frequency of catheterization. She said more recently it’s being used for people with overactive bladders when anti-leakage medications fail. This can prevent the need for surgery.

Quoted: Bob Plankers, a VMware customer who is a senior systems engineer with the University of Wisconsin in Madison, says the new “internal cloud” feature might appeal to companies that are skittish about letting outside companies, like Google or Amazon, take control of all their internal data. “We are definitely worried about that,” he says.

Quoted: John Sturdk, a UW School of Business professor, said the magazine story might be frustrating for some to hear as Madison is rising up when many other cities are falling down rapidly.

“You see a lot of interest in non-profit innovations and non-profit organizations, as well as in the traditional medical device and bio-technology arena’s here,” Sturdk saod. “And so, you see this incredibly diverse pool of talent that have opportunities, custom made for them — and that’s pretty rare.”

Quoted: “I think it’s not dissimilar from what we had in 2003 with the anti-war protests, where a lot of people were uncomfortable with the war, but also uncomfortable with the anti-war position, recognizing there are terrorists out there,” says Jeremi Suri, a history professor who specializes in social movements at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “Here we have a similar thing: There are serious economic issues, and it’s unclear to many people whether the stimulus is going to deal with these.”

Quoted: “School districts or schools that are smaller or less diverse have fewer targets to hit,” said Adam Gamoran, interim dean of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Q: Countries such as France and Japan have been recycling nuclear fuel for decades. Why doesnâ??t the United States do the same?

A: The United States actually was poised to start a nuclear fuel-reprocessing program in the mid-1970s, said Paul Wilson, UW-Madison associate professor of engineering physics. But due to concerns about nuclear weapons proliferation, President Jimmy Carter turned the country away from that option in 1978.

Quoted: “The old elite and bureaucratic elite are afraid of losing power,” said Thongchai Winichakul, professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who added that Mr. Abhisit will soon have to choose between becoming an authoritarian leader or calling elections that Mr. Thaksin’s supporters are likely to win. “Rural and poor people found that democracy, elections, were good for them, after decades of bureaucratic and aristocratic rule and after years of elections that neglected them. Thai democracy, since 1997 at least, began to work well for the poor at the expense of the elite.

Quoted: Mark Bugher, director of the University Research Park, agrees things have improved. He credits the business community itself with being more of a force.

“There’s a heightened level of activism and interest that’s drawn the attention of policy makers,” says Bugher, who two years ago resigned in protest as chair of the city’s Economic Development Commission. “In the past, there’s always been this lack of recognition that businesses â?? and small businesses in particular â?? have been important to the community development programs.”

Noted: Also in “Here, Kitty Kitty” are Stan Temple, the UW-Madison professor whose study blaming cats for the deaths of millions of birds was often cited by those who believed the cats were pests, and Gordon King, a retired farmer and self-proclaimed environmentalist who was prosecuted for trapping and drowning cats on his property in Merrill.

Quoted: By 8 years old, children know the difference between fantasy and reality, so they are more likely to be frightened by televised news coverage of events such as kidnappings, murders and terrorism, said Joanne Cantor, professor of at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the study. Before age 8, they express fears of fictional scenarios and characters but also worry about hurricanes and drowning, she said.

Quoted: So far, “we havenâ??t found any evidence there is a major crisis right now,” said Ken Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who chairs the cityâ??s commission on clean elections. “But weâ??re trying to peer into the future.”

Quoted: “It really does depend. I can’t say that they’re always a bad deal or always a good deal. But I think there are some things to be careful of if you’re thinking about an extended warranty,” says University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.

A new national study on trends in drug convictions finds a surprising trend: the number of African-American drug offenders is falling while the number of white offenders is rising.

The study by the Sentencing Project found that between 1999 and 2005, the number of black drug convicts in the country fell by over 30,000 while the number of white drug convicts increased by more than 20,000. In Wisconsin, the trend is still weak. UW-Madison sociology professor Pamela Oliver says there are still disproportionately more black drug convicts but the racial disparity isn’t as pronounced as it was at the height of the drug war in the mid-990’s. (Fifth item.)

Over the past several decades, women politicians have made strides in Africa. The share of parliamentary seats held by women increased from 7 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2007.

Interviewed: Aili Mari Tripp is a professor of political science and womenâ??s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the director of the Womenâ??s Studies Research Center. (Audio.)

Quoted: â??Whoever wins or loses this round, the stalemate and tension will remain,â? said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Journalism professor Stephen Ward describes the Tyee’s experiment as a sign of the journalistic times.

“It is just a further development of the current troubles with the economic model of journalism right now,” said Prof. Ward, the James E. Burgess Professor of Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an adjunct professor at the journalism school at the University of British Columbia.

Quoted: â??Campaigns are contacting record numbers of individuals,â? said University of Wisconsin political scientist Charles Franklin, who specializes in polling and elections. â??Polling is certainly not a new thing, but the ability now to link the polling and use it for optimal effect in targeting and turning out voters is unprecedented.â?

Quoted: Michael Shank, a professor of the History of Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes it’s probably just coincidence that the recent surge of interest in science and science history comes at a time when Trinity College’s annual religious survey shows a growing number of Americans – 15 percent – claim no religion.

Quoted: Borrowing has propelled consumer spending in recent years, but that will be constrained, too. Lower house prices mean fewer lines of home equity. Banks, with their profitability in question, are lowering credit-card limits. Menzie Chinn, an economist at the University of Wisconsin, thinks consumers won’t spend freely again for five years.

“Basically, it’ll take a long time for households to rebuild their balance sheets, i.e., wealth, in the form of housing and equities,” says Mr. Chinn.

Quoted: David Canon, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Having great teachers in every classroom is critical to creating educational equity, according to Douglas Harris, education policy expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I think there’s pretty widespread agreement that is the most important thing to do, and that is the weak point of the system now.”

Quoted: “He is perceived in the district [as] someone who is young, bright, all-American, with integrity,” says professor Dennis Dresang of the UW-Madison’s Robert M. La Follette School for Public Affairs. “Ryan’s done well at constituent casework. People are grateful and will reward you with support.”

Also: “It’s clear to economists, [including] pretty conservative ones, that monetary policy is exhausted and there is a massive pullback by consumers and capital markets,” says Laura Dresser, associate director of the UW-Madison’s Center on Wisconsin Strategies. “Any honest look at these numbers endorses the idea of spending a big amount now to shorten the downturn [and] get the economy moving.”

Noted: More people are trying to kick the habit as taxes on cigarettes continue to rise. On April 1 the federal tax on a pack of smokes jumped 62 cents. Michael Fiore. Director of the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, calls to the state’s tobacco quit line doubled in the month leading up to the tax hike. Fiore does not have the numbers for after the tax increase but anticipates it will be as equally busy if not busier.

Quoted: Dan Anderson, professor of risk management in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business, said thereâ??s a market for companies that create products that are more environmentally friendly and have less adverse effects on the environment â?? even if they do cost more.

Quoted: “The contract between employers and employees has changed. You have to have Plan B and a Plan C after that. You can’t take anything for granted,” says Leslie Kohlberg, the director of career services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s understood that employees will continue networking throughout their career.”

Quoted: Another anthropologist, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison , said, “Our evolution has recently accelerated by around 100-fold.”

A key reason, Hawks said, is the enormous growth of the world’s population, which multiplies the size of the gene pool available to launch new varieties.

Big drops in the stock market are taking a toll on investors both young and old. In fact, retirement and college funds…. and the people who depend on them… are suffering similar fates: many had too much money in stocks and not enough in safer investments. For retirees, it often means going back to work. For college students and their parents, it means scrambling to find money, fast.

“I think the lesson to take away from this is, if you’re in a 529 plan and your children are in high school, it’s time to start moving your money into more stable value type of investments,” says University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.

Noted: Some majors, however, are faring better than others, particularly “anything you need a credential to do,” says Leslie Kohlberg, undergraduate career services director at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Engineering majors posted a 2.3% increase in their overall average, now $58,438, while the average salary offer for those earning accounting degrees rose 2%, to $48,377.

Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics, said a problem could occur if so little money is withheld for taxes that taxpayers are subject to interest and penalties.

“Whether itâ??s going to have an important negative impact on many people, I suspect not,” he said. “Having a little more in your pocket now and spending it probably is a good thing.”

Quoted: Scott Craven, a wildlife specialist at the UW-Madison, has never seen that many loons at one time in Madison before, adding that the numbers could be as high as 100. He says theyâ??re probably just waiting for spring to thaw northern lakes.

Quoted: “There’s not been any labour law reform here in decades,” said Joel Rogers, a pro-labour law professor at the University of Wisconsin. “You could describe the pace as glacial, if glaciers weren’t melting so fast.”

Q: How much water is there in the atmosphere?

A: Water is an exceptionally interesting chemical with many important implications for life on Earth and the circulation of the Earthâ??s atmosphere. It is the only chemical that naturally exists in all three of its phases (solid, liquid and gas) in our atmosphere.

Quoted: The outcome could boil down to the very organized teachers union (WEAC) versus the disorganized groups of individuals who are critical of the state education establishment, according to UW-Madison Political Science Professor Charles Franklin.

Quoted: Abrahamson took all the right steps to avoid third party groups getting involved, including raising a lot of money early and showing she was going to run an aggressive campaign, said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political science professor.

Q: How fast does a hummingbird fly?

A: There are at least 330 species of hummingbirds and they are found only in the Americas, mostly in Central and South America. The smallest hummingbirds are the size of large insects. The worldâ??s most diminutive bird, in fact, is the male bee hummingbird of Cuba, which is 2 inches long and weighs less than 2 grams.

Wisconsinâ??s ruby-throated hummingbird, the only kind that makes its home here, is known to beat its wings up to 200 times per second. But the non-hovering flight speed of the small birds, according to UW-Madison zoology professor and hummingbird expert Robert Beiweiss, depends on the species and their foraging strategies.

Quoted: The situation is a reflection of just how difficult storm water can be to regulate, according to experts. The quality of storm water ordinances and their enforcement is uneven in Wisconsin because regulation is mostly left up to local communities, said Ken Potter, a civil engineer with UW-Madison who is an expert on storm water management.

Quoted: Bruce Jones, an agricultural economist with University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: Provider of riches, she is described as the â??capitalist deity par excellenceâ? by the showâ??s curator, John Henry Drewal, a professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and as such, sheâ??s a natural bailout savior for our time. But when assailed by qualms over ethics, she can cause trouble, sending Madoffian fortunes onto the rocks with the flick of a fin.

Q: How do weather conditions affect maple syrup harvesting?

A: Weather is a crucial factor for a good harvest of maple syrup. Tapping trees occurs in late winter and early spring. In Wisconsin, March is a prime month for tapping sugar maple trees as that is when the sap is sweetest. But only about 2 percent of the sap is sugar, which is why it needs to be boiled down in order to remove the water and increase the sugar concentration.

Quoted: Along the Jordan River, which is now 90 percent diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan, the countries are indeed facing scarcity. But just what that means for different groups of people, especially the Israelis and Palestinians, is not always clear. “I think scarcity is a political framework in which people work,” said Samer Alatout, an expert on Israeli/Palestinian water issues and a professor in the department of rural sociology at the University of Wisconsin. “If you have a general assumption about what scarcity is, for instance less than 500 cubic meters per year per person, that does not really mean anything because you are not asking the question of who gets how much water and when.”

Quoted: “I think the news media are inadvertently or necessarily adding to some of the gloom, some of the panic,” said Stephen Ward, a University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism professor said. “But it can’t be avoided.”

Ward said that, for the most part, the people working at the presses and in TV newsrooms are doing a fair job. He said it would be a disservice not to talk about the bad things going on.

Starting today, it will start cost smokers more to light up. That’s because a 61-cent increase in the cigarette tax took effect Wednesday morning.

Doctor Pat Remington of the UW School of Medicine expects the higher price will start convincing more people to quit smoking. He says the higher price will make many smokers think about the impact the habit has on their wallet.

Quoted: “Is this area of pharmacology for cardiology dead?” says James Stein, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “Have we maxed out with very powerful statins and excellent blood-pressure drugs? Is there going to be another cardiology blockbuster ever again?”

Potential for a painless way to deliver flu protection has vaccine makers in Europe and the U.S. seeking regulatory approval, for injections that are only skin deep. A Madison company that was a spin-off from UW Madison is among those testing what’s called intradermal delivery.

A shortage in 2004 spurred research in ways to stretch the vaccine supply. Dr. Jon Tempte is a UW-Madison Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the UW Hospital, and is on a Center for Disease Control advisory flu panel, the Committee for Immunization Practices. He says intradermal delivery appears to use one-fifth the vaccine of a regular shot to deliver flu immunity. Previous U.S. studies show there can be side effects, but Tempte says they tend to be localized and minor. (Eighth item.)