Arkansas
Catalyst
August
2016
NIH Awards $440,000 to U of A Neurobiologist for Gene
Research
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Timothy A. Evans,
assistant professor of biological sciences. Photo by Emma
Schock, University of
Arkansas
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The
National
Institutes of Health has awarded $440,613 to a U of A
neurobiologist to study how a gene develops specific nerve
connections throughout the body, a key step in developing ways to
stimulate regrowth of nerve connections after an injury or
degenerative disease.
Timothy A. Evans, an
assistant professor in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and
Sciences, said the three-year
grant will support his research of the gene known as
robo2 in the common fruit fly Drosophila
melanogaster.
“Drosophila serves as an
important model for investigating the mechanisms of neural
development, because genes like robo2 play similar roles in
embryonic neural development in humans,” Evans said. “The more we
learn about robo2 in the fruit fly, the better equipped we
are to understand the roles of its human counterparts in the
contexts of development, neurodegenerative disease and repair after
injury.”
Robo2 is a nerve cell protein that controls
the growth of nerve fibers during development of the fly.
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NSF Awards CAST $900,000 to Lead Effort to Expand Geospatial
Education
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| A CAST researcher uses
the center's RazorVue to use google Earth, which uses GIS data
to georeference specific
locations. | |
The
Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies will lead a statewide
effort to integrate industry-specific geospatial technology skills
into existing degree and certificate programs at community colleges
in rural areas.
The National Science Foundation, through
its Advanced Technical Education program, awarded CAST a three-year
grant for $898,073 for the Opening Pathways to Employment through
Nontraditional Geospatial Applications in Technical Education, which
will be known by the acronym OPEN-GATE.
Geospatial technologies include computer-based mapping and data
acquisition and analysis using geographic information systems. The
U.S. Department of Labor has listed it as a high-growth industry and
a major area of job creation in the next decade. A recent survey
found a need for technicians, especially those who can store, create
and manage data.
The program’s goals are to
increase use of geospatial technology statewide, expand access to
geospatial education and training and improve existing employee
skills while expanding the workforce.
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U of A Geoscientist to Help Determine Greenhouse Gas
Guidelines
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| Jason Tullis, associate
professor of geosciences. Photo by University
Relations | |
Jason
Tullis, an associate professor of geosciences in the J. William
Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will help refine
international guidelines for greenhouse gas inventories that will be
considered for adoption by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change.
The panel, known as IPCC, was
created to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the
scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks,
and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Tullis
is an expert in analyzing satellite imagery and other geospatial
data to evaluate a country’s land base and detecting land use
conversions, such as from forest to farmland. He will travel next
month with 10 other U.S. scientists to participate in an IPCC
“scoping meeting” in Minsk, Belarus. The meeting will start and
accelerate the formal process of updating the 2006 IPCC Guidelines
for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
“Rapidly advancing
geospatial science, including remote sensing and geographic
information systems, is an essential component in national
inventories and will be an important factor in the refinement of the
guidelines,” Tullis said.
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Not All 'Front-of-Package' Nutrition Information Produces the Same
Effect
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| Photo by University
Relations
| |
Marketing
researchers at the U of A and their colleague at the University of
Mississippi compared nutrition information labels on the front of
packaged food products to understand which labels help consumers
choose more healthful items. Their conclusion: It
depends.
“Our research suggests that there is no single,
‘one-size-fits-all’ front-of-package nutrition label that is
suitable for all the different types of situations in which
consumers are evaluating and choosing products,” said Elizabeth
Howlett, professor of marketing in the Sam M. Walton College of
Business.
Shoppers often find it daunting to
decide which packaged food products are the healthiest. The
researchers found that different formats worked better in different
situations.
A front-of-package label that
provided specific, objective and quantitative information was more
suited to a non-comparative choice, the instance in which a consumer
is evaluating a single product. Front-of-package labels that
provided evaluative information were more suited to a comparative
task, when customers were evaluating multiple products.
The researchers’ study was published recently in the Journal
of Consumer
Research.
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