Fall 2010 Research Frontiers Sports New Technology

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“Painting the Past Alive” follows art professor John Newman as he paints a mural depicting the African Americans who crossed the Missouri River to freedom in Quindaro, Kan.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – People with “smart phones” can now access videos and slide shows from University of Arkansas’ Research Frontiers on the Web directly from the print magazine using “QR code,” short for “quick response code.”

“For the first time, we can link the print magazine directly to multimedia stories on the Web,” said Melissa Lutz Blouin, editor of Research Frontiers.

Readers can access three slide shows and two videos through QR codes in the current issue of the magazine. QR codes are small, printed bar codes that allow someone with a smart phone to scan the printed code and immediately see the online page associated with the code. A phone must have a QR code reader, many of which are available for free and available on the phone or by download.

The first slide show features art professor Kristin Musgnug's exhibit, “Un-Natural Histories – Paintings of Invasive Species,” with canvases Musgnug produced after extensive research done at several locations and artists colonies. The second slide show explores the history of physics on the University of Arkansas campus through an antique collection of scientific instruments collected by professor Raj Gupta. The third slide show includes photos from engineering professor Brady Cox of his research trip to Haiti.

The first video features kinesiology professors Ro DiBrezzo and Inza Fort discussing the importance of exercise as we age. The second video features the research of plant pathology graduate student Alma Laney, who has characterized a virus that affects roses across the United States. A third video, which showcases the work of art professor John Newman, can be accessed directly from the QR code that accompanies this document.

The slideshows and videos are also available at:

• The Art of Nature

• Antique Instruments

• Shaky Ground

• Exercise for Everyone

• A Rose Is Not a Rose When…

• Underground Railroad

The four feature stories discuss research into current issues affecting the world today. One discusses how researchers are using federal stimulus dollars on campus. Another examines bankruptcy and foreclosures and their effect on the economy. A third story examines how exercise can help keep people independent as they age. And the fourth story looks at research on soil and structures in Haiti, and how these affected outcomes during the January 2010 earthquake.

The Arts and Letters page features the work of archivists in Special Collections in the University of Arkansas Libraries, who are currently digitizing aspects of the collection.

The student research feature showcases an animal science student’s surprising discovery of a way to prolong the shelf life of meat that could save grocery stores money.

In the Perspectives section, Bob McMath, dean of the Honors College and professor of history, discusses the importance of undergraduate research in educating students.

In addition to a brief on artwork depicting the underground railroad in Quindaro, Kan., the Research Briefs section includes increasing soybean yields, reducing workplace violence around nurses, “fingerprinting” breast cancer cells, examining “small world” trade networks and determining Obama’s impact on minority candidates.

The In Review section includes books on coping with stress; the biology of mushrooms, molds and lichens; exotic dance; and disability, housing and equity in the South. This section also features two books from the University of Arkansas Press: One is about Arkansas and the “queer South” and the other is a collection of stories that weave in and out of Egypt and Africa.

In the UA Q&A section, professor of communication disorders Joseph Agan explains the origins of stuttering, and Sherrie Smith, plant diagnostician for the Plant Health Clinic helps identify a brown, lumpy object found on someone’s tree.