New Issue of Research Frontiers on the Web

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas fall 2005 issue of Research Frontiers is on the Web, ready to take readers on a trip to Yellowstone National Park, through the menu boards of chain restaurants and into the taste test laboratories of a food scientist.

The Web site for the fall issue includes a slide show from Yellowstone National Park, where geoscientist Stephen K. Boss of the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and several graduate students spent most of the summer studying lakeshore processes at Yellowstone Lake to determine how they might relate to the caldera that lies beneath the park.

The second story emphasizes what people don’t find on the menu when they buy convenience meals at restaurants — the calories. Scot Burton and Betsy Creyer, professors of marketing in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, have discovered that consumers routinely underestimate how many calories they consume when they order food in restaurants. They also have found evidence that some people change their attitudes towards certain types of foods if they have information about calories and fat.

The third story concentrates less on what’s in the food and more on what it tastes like. Jean-Francois Meullenet, professor of food science in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, has assembled groups of consumer panels and trained sensory panelists to help determine what makes people like — or dislike — a certain flavor or texture in various food products. Meullenet has panelists taste yogurt, chicken, tortilla chips, soft drinks, juices and many other products in the name of science — to develop statistically significant ways of determining consumer preferences.

The fourth feature story in the fall issue addresses a sociological trend: Yvette Murphy, an assistant professor in the Fulbright College School of Social Work, studies the challenges faced by African-American grandmothers who are raising their grandchildren in the absence of the children’s parents. Murphy found that these women face many struggles within the child welfare system; they often feel pressure to adopt the children or risk losing them to the system.

In addition to the feature stories, Research Frontiers contains briefs about research on campus and reviews of books, videos and CDs by University of Arkansas researchers and from the University of Arkansas Press.

The arts and letters page discusses the work of Lynn Jacobs, art professor and chair of the art department, who is writing a book on triptychs, or “paintings with doors” as they were referred to in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

The student feature showcases the research of Leslie Yingling, a 2005 UA journalism and political science graduate, who studied youth voting practices as part of her senior research thesis.

Finally, two professors of engineering, Alan Mantooth and Craig Thompson, answer two questions for the UA question and answer section: “What causes power outages?” and “What is the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?”

To see Research Frontiers online please visit: http://researchfrontiers.uark.edu