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The Graduate School

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Graduate School News Archive

Machine Inspection Helps Measure Rice Quality
-- Posted by tfisher on Thursday, January 27 2005

A machine inspection system under development at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture can peer through intact hulls to inspect individual rice kernels for damage.

"This is primarily of value for rice breeders and physiologists," said Dr. Carl Griffis, professor of biological and agricultural engineering. They look for traits like resistance to insects and diseases. Current evaluation techniques require removing the hulls for visual inspection of the grain. Those kernels, then, are more difficult to plant to produce the next generation of a breeding line."

Building on the machine vision groundwork of former UA engineer Dr. Yang Tao, Griffis and graduate student Amber Gosnell are developing a system that can inspect individual rough rice kernels and separate damaged from undamaged.

"Yang Tao had an idea to make video images of rice kernels back-lighted with a strong light source," Griffis said. "He demonstrated that damage from disease or insects causes blackened areas on the grains that show up as darkened areas in the images."

A computer program processes those images and predicts damage. Griffis said visual examination of machine-inspected rice shows a high correlation of accuracy.

Griffis and Gosnell are completing the first year of a three-year study on the machine inspection system. At the end of three years, Griffis plans to deliver a fully automated system to Division of Agriculture scientists at the Rice Research and Extension Center at Stuttgart.

UA Doctoral Student Earns Prestigious Honor
-- Posted by tfisher on Wednesday, January 19 2005

Matthew A. Wendt, doctoral student in education administration at the University of Arkansas, was named to one of the most prestigious honors for students in his profession. The American Association of School Administrators selected him for the 2005 S.D. Shankland Award, one of six highly competitive scholarships awarded by the association. In addition to being honored at the association's annual conference in February, Wendt will be presented with a check for $2,000. Wendt, the assistant superintendent for learning for the Pittsburg, Kan., school system, commuted on weekends to Fayetteville to attend classes and completed the requirements for the doctorate in education administration in December 2004 with a dissertation titled "Influences Affecting Elementary Mathematics Achievement in One Kansas School District: A Case Study."

University of Arkansas Graduate Assistant Receives Multicultural Scholarship
-- Posted by tfisher on Thursday, January 6 2005

The Office of Admissions has announced that José Ricardo, a graduate intern and doctoral candidate from the University of Arkansas, is the recipient of the 2005 Multicultural Scholarship to attend the upcoming Southern Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (SACRAO) conference in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

SACRAO provides the Multicultural Scholarship to promote diversity in higher education by providing travel, hotel and food expenses for recognized individuals pursuing a career in higher education. Recipients are members of an under-represented population and are new to the profession or who have never had an opportunity to attend a SACRAO conference. The conference is an annual event hosted by member institutions throughout the southern region of the United States. The three-day conference attracts 600 to 800 participants from member institutions who exchange ideas of common interest.

Research Team Uncovers Fear Factor as Key in Disgust and Fainting
-- Posted by tfisher on Thursday, January 6 2005

The sight of a bloody wound or a hypodermic needle puncturing skin can cause many people to pass out. Such a response may involve a complex interaction between fear and disgust, and understanding the interaction may help treat people who faint from such causes.

A team of University of Arkansas researchers recently presented a study showing the relation between fear, disgust and fainting. Graduate student Bunmi O. Olatunji, assistant professor Nathan Williams and professor Jeff Lohr presented the results at the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy conference in New Orleans in November. Craig Sawchuk, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington Medical School and a 2000 graduate of the UA clinical training program, co-authored the presentation.

The resulting paper, "Disgust, Anxiety and Fainting Symptoms Associated with Blood-Injection-Injury Fears: A Structural Model," will be published in a 2005 issue of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

To read more, please go to http://advancement.uark.edu/news/DEC04/OlatunjiFainting.html

Medicinal Plant Compounds May Bear Fruit in Historic Dual Health and Energy Research
-- Posted by tfisher on Thursday, January 6 2005

The mimosa tree is, like the South's mythic kudzu, a virulent, hardy and invasive plant. If the groundbreaking plant-based research of two University of Arkansas engineers bears fruit, extract from the mimosa may invade both the energy and pharmaceutical industries.
Mimosa extract is being studied as a clean, cheap and renewable source of energy as well as a compound with medicinal properties that may one day have significant impact on diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and arteriosclerosis.

Ed Clausen, professor of chemical engineering, and Julie Carrier, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering, are the first scientists to research compounds extracted from mimosa for both energy and medicinal potential.

The team has discovered and is quantifying critical compounds known as flavonoids in mimosa extract. Flavonoids are potent phytochemicals proved to prevent and reverse chronic disease.

To read more, please go to http://advancement.uark.edu/news/DEC04/ClausenCarrier.html

The Hole Story: Tiny Holes Offer Giant Glimpse into Future
-- Posted by tfisher on Thursday, January 6 2005

Miniscule holes in a single molecule detector being developed at the University of Arkansas may hold the key to enormous advancements in the medical and biological sciences.

Jiali Li, an assistant professor of physics, recently received a $500,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to further her research into nanopores. Li, the first UA physicist to receive NIH funding, is fine-tuning a microscope-like device she and her former colleagues invented known as the single-molecule nanopore detector.

Nanopores are essentially holes as tiny as 30 atoms across that exist within all living systems. They act as sensitive membrane channels through which cells sustain life by breathing molecules in and out.

To read more, please go to http://advancement.uark.edu/news/DEC04/jiali_li.html

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