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<dc:date>2008-08-28T01:04+22:00
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<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8730">
<title>Jared Diamond to Open International Genetic Diversity Symposium</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8730</link>
<description><![CDATA[Evolutionary biologist and author Jared Diamond will present the opening keynote address for an international symposium on agricultural biodiversity, to be held Sept. 14-18 at the University of California, Davis.

The Harlan II International Symposium, the successor to a program held 11 years ago in Syria, is dedicated to the late crop evolutionist Jack R. Harlan. It will focus on the importance of using and conserving not just a diversity of species, but also genetic diversity within species.

In opening the symposium, Diamond will discuss whether environmental factors, rather than pure chance, led to the uneven distribution around the world of plant and animal species suitable for domestication and agricultural use. His public presentation on Sunday, Sept. 14, will begin at 6:15 p.m. in 123 Science Lecture Hall at UC Davis. Admission to the talk and the preceding reception will cost $50 per person.

Diamond maintains that the adoption of agriculture was "the most important event in the last 50,000 years of human history." As people developed the ability to cultivate crops and raise animals, they were able to produce a surplus of food, which fueled population growth and led to settled living, technology, social stratification and political centralization, he notes.

He points out that the societies with the greatest variety of plant species suitable for farming expanded earlier and farther than did societies in areas with the fewest farmable plant species -- and no animal species -- that were easily domesticated. For example, cultures in the Fertile Crescent, China, the Andes, and Meso-America -- the land between central Mexico and Nicaragua -- flourished, while cultures in areas such as Eastern North America and Highland New Guinea did not.

Diamond will question whether environmental factors in different regions predisposed wild animal and plant species in those areas to develop traits conducive to domestication.

A complete program for the Harlan II symposium is available online at: http://harlanii.ucdavis.edu/main/speakers_topics.htm. For fee information and a list of talks and tours, click on "registration" at the left of this page.

Among the speakers during the three-day symposium will be:

Monday, Sept. 15, 9 a.m. -- Robert Wayne, a UCLA biology professor and expert on canine genetics, will discuss what the analysis of the dog genome -- the entire collection of genes for the animal family that includes domestic dogs, wolves, foxes and coyotes -- tells about the evolutionary history of these animals and how the various species are related.

Monday, Sept. 15, 1:30 p.m. -- Doyle McKey, Universite de Montpellier II and the Center of Evolutionary and Functional Ecology, Montpellier, France, will discuss ecological approaches to crop domestication, using manioc, or cassava, as an example of how ecology can be integrated with genetics and ethnobiology -- the study of how people interact with the living environment -- to test plant-domestication scenarios.

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 9:30 a.m. -- Anthropologist Melinda Zeder, director of the archaeobiology program for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will discuss her latest research on when and where in the world animals were first domesticated.

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 6 p.m. -- Keynote speaker Gary Nabhan, an ecologist and pioneer in the local-food movement from the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona, will compare the crop diversity found by plant explorer N.I. Vavilov between 1916 and 1936, with the remaining diversity that Nabhan found in the same areas in nine countries on five continents three quarters of a century later. Nabhan says that an understanding of how biodiversity in local agricultural systems has changed may help predict how well farmers may be able to adapt to rapid climate change, globalization, water scarcity, and weed or pest invasions.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 8 a.m. -- M. Kat Andersen, a plant ecologist in UC Davis' Department of Plant Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, will discuss how Native Californians cultivated naturally occurring plants as sources of food even before the first Europeans arrived and how some of those practices are being applied in certain sectors of modern agriculture today.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 9 a.m. -- Dennis Hedgecock, a fisheries ecologist at the University of Southern California, will discuss the importance of conserving genetic resources in aquaculture, which he says is now the fastest-growing sector of global food production. He will discuss the challenges in both conserving and utilizing the planet's imperiled aquatic biodiversity, when faced with the threat of overfishing, species introductions, interactions of wild and farmed stocks, ocean warming and ocean acidification.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 11 a.m. -- Charles Bamforth, the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at UC Davis, will discuss genetic resources of brewing yeast, which he says is the best example of the major advances that have been made in just a few decades in understanding the physiology, biochemistry and genetics of yeasts and other microorganisms.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 11:30 a.m., -- James Lapsley, adjunct associate professor in the Department of Viticulture and Enology and chair of the Department of Science, Agriculture, and Natural Resources in UC Davis Extension, will talk about the introduction to California of Vitis vinifera, the grape species that includes most traditional European wine grapes. Lapsley is author of the book "Bottled Poetry," a history of California winemaking.

News media who would like to attend all or parts of the symposium free of charge should RSVP to Pat Bailey, News Service, (530) 752-9843, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu.]]></description>
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<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8765">
<title>Troubled Children Hurt Peers&#x27; Test Scores, Behavior</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8765</link>
<description><![CDATA[Troubled children hurt their classmates' math and reading scores and worsen their behavior, according to new research by economists at the University of California, Davis, and University of Pittsburgh.

The study, "Externalities in the Classroom: How Children Exposed to Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids," was published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research and is available online at http://papers.nber.org/papers/w14246.

Scott Carrell, an assistant professor of economics at UC Davis, and co-author Mark Hoekstra, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, cross-referenced standardized test results and school disciplinary records with court restraining order petitions filed in domestic violence cases for more than 40,000 students enrolled in public elementary schools in Florida's Alachua County for the years 1995 through 2003.

The researchers linked domestic violence cases to 4.6 percent of the elementary school students in their sample. These children scored nearly 4 percentile points lower on standardized reading and math scores than their peers whose parents were not involved in domestic violence cases. (A percentile score reflects the percentage of scores that fall below it; a student who scores in the 51st percentile on a test, for example, has scored higher than 51 percent of all students who took that test.) In addition, the children from households linked to domestic violence were 44 percent more likely to have been suspended from school and 28 percent more likely to have been disciplined for bad behavior. The impact was seen across genders, races and income levels.

Not only did children from troubled homes suffer, however: Test scores fell and behavior problems increased for their classmates as well.

Troubled boys caused the bulk of the disruption, and the largest effects were on other boys. Indeed, Carrell and Hoekstra estimate that adding just one troubled boy to a class of 20 children reduces the standardized reading and math scores of other boys in the room by nearly two percentile points. And adding just one troubled boy to a class of 20 students increases the likelihood that another boy in the class will commit a disciplinary infraction by 17 percent.

Troubled girls, in contrast, had only a small and statistically insignificant impact on the test scores or behavior of their classmates. The study did not investigate the reasons for the gender differences.

Across all students, having a troubled student in a class reduced classmates' combined test scores by nearly 1 percentile point and increased their likelihood of getting into disciplinary trouble at school by 6 percent.

The researchers conducted sophisticated statistical tests to ensure that they were observing only the impacts of a troubled child on classrooms, not the impact of broader socioeconomic issues in the community. They compared classes from the same grade in the same school over time; some years the classes had troubled students, some years they did not. They also compared how siblings performed when one student was in a class with troubled classmates and another student from the same family was in a class with fewer troubled students.

"Our findings have important implications for both education and social policy," Carrell and Hoekstra write. "First, they suggest that policies that change a child's exposure to classmates from troubled families will have important consequences for his or her education outcomes. In addition, the results also help provide a more complete measure of the social costs of family conflict."

The research does not suggest that all disruptive schoolchildren come from families that experience domestic violence, nor are all children from domestic violence disruptive, Carrell emphasized.

"There are many reasons for disruptive classroom behavior; domestic violence is one particularly good indicator of a troubled child," Carrell said.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8764">
<title>Private Support for UC Davis Tops $216 Million</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8764</link>
<description><![CDATA[More than 44,000 donors supported UC Davis with nearly $216.8 million in gifts, pledges and private grants last fiscal year, marking the sixth consecutive year that philanthropic support has grown and the first time that UC Davis has surpassed $200 million.

Almost half of the total -- $100 million -- came from a single philanthropic grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, directed to found a new nursing school in Sacramento. The foundation's philanthropic grant is the largest in the nation in support of nursing education.

In all, the nearly $216.8 million in support in 2007-08 represents a 114 percent jump compared with the previous fiscal year, when private support totaled more than $101 million. Even without the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation grant, giving increased 12 percent, year to year.

Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef expressed thanks for the generosity and pointed out how important philanthropic support is to UC Davis as the university enters its centennial year.

"We are grateful to each and every one of our donors who helps and believes in our mission at UC Davis," Vanderhoef said. "Their support and commitment provide new and better opportunities for our students and faculty as we look to address society's challenges of the next 100 years."

Vanderhoef noted that UC Davis has benefited from philanthropy since its founding, when members of the local chamber of commerce raised money to donate water rights for the proposed campus site. Many believe that gift made the difference in locating the university in what was then known as the town of Davisville.

"Even our early advocates understood that philanthropic support could provide an extra margin that can make all the difference," Vanderhoef said. "Philanthropy continues to be so very important to UC Davis. This year, the university has benefited in many ways, from unrestricted annual gifts that provide funding where it is always needed, to the magnificent grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to found a nursing school that is critically important to California and the nation."

Donors in 2007-08 included alumni, parents, faculty and friends, as well as corporations, foundations, and other organizations, according to Cheryl Brown Lohse, associate vice chancellor for University Development. In addition, UC Davis students made contributions, through a senior class gift effort.

Gifts and philanthropic grants provided a wide range of support for students, faculty and programs.

Consider the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's grant to establish the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. The grant was inspired by UC Davis and the foundation's shared vision: highly skilled and well-prepared nurses will lead our national health-care system in assuring patient safety, improving quality of care and health outcomes, guiding policy decisions and discovering knowledge to advance health.

In addition to that foundation's philanthropic grant, 18 donors made gifts of $1 million or more, including:


$10 million of an expected $12.5 million gift from the Louise Rossi Estate, benefitting the Department of Viticulture and Enology. The gift will support high priority research in many ways, including the purchase of equipment for the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and the future establishment of endowed chairs to support faculty positions in winemaking and grape growing. This gift will also augment the previously established Rossi Prize endowment, which supports viticulture and enology students.
$10 million from alumnus Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and his wife, Marcia, toward the construction of the new three-story, 40,000-square-foot home for the Graduate School of Management. In addition, it established an endowment to provide for faculty and student support, and program expansion and development. This is the largest gift UC Davis has ever received from an alumnus.
$1 million from the Bernard Osher Foundation to endow the Osher Reentry Scholarship Program. Last year, the Osher Foundation gave the campus $1 million to endow the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Davis.


Each of UC Davis' four colleges and five professional schools received private support. The Health System, which includes the proposed Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing as well as the School of Medicine, recorded the highest amount at $120.3 million. It was followed by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, at $29.2 million, and the Graduate School of Management, at $12.1 million.

Of the philanthropic total, 26 percent was directed toward research, while department/faculty support and student support received a combined 58 percent. Campus improvement and other program support received the remaining 16 percent.

Of the nearly $216.8 million, donors committed a total of $31 million to invested funds -- or endowments -- to provide ongoing support for undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, research and other university programs. Donors directed $23.1 million to endowment support through the UC Davis Foundation. The foundation, established in 1959, receives private gifts to benefit UC Davis, invests its endowed gift funds and other private assets, and advises university leaders in areas related to public trust and support. UC Davis alumna Pam Fair '80 currently chairs the foundation board of trustees, which also includes 40 other volunteer leaders.

More than 16,000 donors supported the Annual Fund in 2007-08, giving nearly $1.8 million. The chancellor allocates Annual Fund gifts to areas of greatest need, including student and faculty support.

UC Davis receives about 21 percent of its total budget from the state, and receives additional support from a variety of funding sources, including donors. UC Davis has crossed the $100 million threshold twice before, in the 2001-02 fiscal year, when the university raised $110 million, including a gift of $35 million from Robert and Margrit Mondavi, and last year, with $101 million.

"We are very grateful to all of our donors who have been so generous to UC Davis this year," said Beverly Sandeen, vice chancellor for University Relations, which includes University Development. "We are honored and inspired by these donors, who have seen what UC Davis can accomplish through philanthropic support."]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8732">
<title>Biracial Asian Americans and Mental Health</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8732</link>
<description><![CDATA[A new study of Chinese-Caucasian, Filipino-Caucasian, Japanese-Caucasian and Vietnamese-Caucasian individuals concludes that biracial Asian Americans are twice as likely as monoracial Asian Americans to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder.

The study by researchers at the Asian American Center on Disparities Research at the University of California, Davis, was reported Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

"Up to 2.4 percent of the U.S. population self-identifies as mixed race, and most of these individuals describe themselves as biracial," said Nolan Zane, a professor of psychology and Asian American studies at UC Davis. "We cannot underestimate the importance of understanding the social, psychological and experiential differences that may increase the likelihood of psychological disorders among this fast-growing segment of the population."

Zane and his co-investigator, UC Davis psychology graduate student Lauren Berger, found that 34 percent of biracial individuals in a national survey had been diagnosed with a psychological disorder, such as anxiety, depression or substance abuse, versus 17 percent of monoracial individuals. The higher rate held up even after the researchers controlled for differences between the groups in age, gender and life stress, among other factors.

The study included information from 125 biracial Asian Americans from across the U.S., including 55 Filipino-Caucasians, 33 Chinese-Caucasians, 23 Japanese-Caucasians and 14 Vietnamese-Caucasians.

The information was obtained from the 2002-2003 National Latino and Asian American Study, the largest nationally representative survey ever conducted of Asian Americans. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the landmark survey involved in-person interviews with more than 2,000 Asian Americans nationwide. The survey yielded a wealth of raw data for researchers to analyze for insights into Asian American mental health.

Zane and Berger did not look at the mental health of non-Asian Americans.

Future research should investigate the factors that explain the higher rate of diagnosed psychological disorders among biracial Asian Americans, Zane said. Possibilities include influences of ethnic identification and experiences of ethnic discrimination.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8738">
<title>Suicide among Asian Americans</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8738</link>
<description><![CDATA[Asian Americans whose families experience a high degree of interpersonal conflict have a three-fold greater risk of attempting suicide when compared with Asian Americans overall, according to a new study by University of California, Davis, researchers. The risk is tripled even among those who have never had a diagnosis of depression. The findings were reported Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

"Because of the great emphasis on harmony and family integration in many Asian cultures, family conflict is an important factor to consider when studying suicidal behaviors among Asian Americans," said Stanley Sue, a professor of psychology and Asian American studies at UC Davis and one of the study's authors. "Our study suggests that we need to more precisely determine the kinds of family conflicts that are associated with suicide risk among Asian Americans, and find means of preventing these family problems."

Sue's study is a new analysis of data from the 2002-2003 National Latino and Asian American Study, the largest nationally representative survey ever conducted of Asian Americans. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the landmark survey involved in-person interviews with more than 2,000 Asian Americans nationwide. Subjects were asked about income, marital status, age at time of immigration or number of generations their families have been in the United States, English language proficiency, family conflict, and suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, among other questions, yielding a wealth of raw data for researchers to examine for insights into Asian American mental health.

In the national survey, 2.7 percent of the Asian Americans interviewed reported having attempted suicide at some point during their lives; 9.1 percent of the total group reported having had suicidal thoughts.

Further mining the survey data, Sue and lead investigator Janice Cheng, a psychology graduate student, sorted out the suicide-prone individuals' answers to additional survey questions that asked about past diagnosis of depression and family income. The researchers compared the answers with those of interviewees who had not reported suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts.

The researchers found that among Asian Americans in the national survey, family conflict was a significant risk factor for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts -- independent of depression, low income or gender.

"This is the first nationally representative investigation of family conflict and suicidal behaviors among Asian Americans," Sue said. "Our findings suggest that high family conflict has an independent and additive effect in predicting lifetime suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts among Asian Americans."

Previous studies by other researchers have shown that certain subgroups of Asian Americans, including college students and Asian American women older than 65, have relatively high rates of suicide or suicide attempts compared with the rest of the nation. However, the UC Davis study was not designed to compare rates of suicide among different groups.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8739">
<title>Adults Easily Fooled by Children&#x27;s False Denials</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8739</link>
<description><![CDATA[Adults are easily fooled when a child denies that an actual event took place, but do somewhat better at detecting when a child makes up information about something that never happened, according to new research from the University of California, Davis. The research, which has important implications for forensic child sexual abuse evaluations, was presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychology Association in Boston.

"The large number of children coming into contact with the legal system -- mostly as a result of abuse cases -- has motivated intense scientific effort to understand children's true and false reports," said UC Davis psychology professor and study author Gail S. Goodman. "The seriousness of abuse charges and the frequency with which children's testimony provides central prosecutorial evidence makes children's eyewitness memory abilities important considerations. Arguably even more important, however, are adults' abilities to evaluate children's reports."

In an effort to determine if adults can discern children's true reports from false ones, Goodman and her co-investigators asked more than 100 adults to view videotapes of 3- and 5-year-olds being interviewed about "true" and "false" events. For true events, the children either accurately confirmed that the event had occurred or inaccurately denied that it had happened. For "false" events -- ones that the children had not experienced -- they either truthfully denied having experienced them or falsely reported that they had occurred.

Afterward, the adults were asked to evaluate each child's veracity.

The adults were relatively good at detecting accounts of events that never happened. But the adults were apt to mistakenly believe children's denials of actual events.

"The findings suggest that adults are better at detecting false reports than they are at detecting false denials," Goodman said. "While accurately detecting false reports protects innocent people from false allegations, the failure to detect false denials could mean that adults fail to protect children who falsely deny actual victimization."

Goodman's co-authors include Donna Shestowsky, acting professor of law at UC Davis, and doctoral students Stephanie Block, Jennifer Schaaf and Daisy Segovia.

Goodman was among the first researchers to undertake academic study of children's eyewitness accounts. She is the author of three books and more than 170 scientific articles in the field; some have been cited in U.S. Supreme Court decisions. She is the 2008 recipient of the American Psychological Association's Urie Bronfenbrenner Award for Lifetime Contributions to Developmental Psychology.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8757">
<title>Soils Limited in Storing Carbon and Mitigating Global Warming, Studies Find</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8757</link>
<description><![CDATA[Soils, long known to be potential natural "sinks" or storehouses for carbon, are limited in just how much carbon they can stash away, according to two recent studies by researchers at UC Davis; University of Kentucky; University of Bonn, Germany; and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The findings have implications for how to moderate rising levels of atmospheric carbon, closely linked with the global warming phenomenon.

Results of these studies, led by post-doctoral researcher Haegeun Chung and graduate student Sabrina Gulde of UC Davis' Department of Plant Sciences, appear in the May-June and July-August issues of the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Scientists have known for some time that the Earth's soils are a tremendous repository for carbon. As plants grow, they take in carbon from the atmosphere and process it into plant tissue. When the plant dies, the carbon is incorporated into the soil, where it becomes bound up with soil particles and microorganisms.

"Because carbon can reside in soils for a long time in a stable form, soils harbor, on the average, two-thirds of the carbon in the land-based ecosystem," Chung said.

She noted that several long-term studies have indicated that as plants continue to add more carbon to the soils, the carbon "sequestered," or stored, in the soils increases proportionately. But other research has found that, in some soils, the levels of carbon in the soil did not increase, despite the addition of more carbon from decayed plant matter.

This suggested that there might be an upper limit to the amount of carbon that can be held by the soil, or in other words, soils can literally become saturated with carbon.

To explore the possibility of a carbon saturation of soils, carbon storage levels of soils were investigated in two agricultural experiments that have been going on for more than 30 years.

In Kentucky, Chung and colleagues studied soils from an experiment where corn is grown under a broad range of fertilizer application rates and two tillage practices.

In another study based in Lethbridge, Canada, Gulde and colleagues analyzed soils cropped to barley under a wide range of manure application rates.

The researchers collected soil samples from the plots and measured overall soil carbon levels. They also separated the soils into various soil-size fractions, and examined their carbon-holding capacity.

As Chung, Gulde and their colleagues suspected, their data indicated that there was a limit to the amount of carbon that could be stored by soils. When high levels of carbon were added through plant growth or manure application, the soil did not sequester carbon anymore. Moreover, the very small-particle components of soil had the least carbon-binding capacity and were saturated with carbon at relatively low levels of carbon addition.

"The Earth's soils have the potential to offset global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning by as much as five to 10 percent," Chung said. "Knowing the limits of soils to serve as carbon sinks will allow environmental planners to better predict just how much carbon different soils can sequester."

Collaborating with Chung and Gulde were Professor Johan Six of the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, John Grove of the University of Kentucky, Wulf Amelung of the University of Bonn, and Chi Chang of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The studies were funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8760">
<title>Groundbreaking Research Shows DEET Not Sweet to Mosquitoes</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8760</link>
<description><![CDATA[Spray yourself with a DEET-based insect repellent and the mosquitoes will leave you alone. But why? They flee because of their intense dislike for the smell of the chemical repellent and not because DEET jams their sense of smell, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.

Their groundbreaking findings were published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"We found that mosquitoes can smell DEET and they stay away from it," said noted chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor of entomology at UC Davis. "DEET doesn't mask the smell of the host or jam the insect's senses. Mosquitoes don't like it because it smells bad to them."

DEET, the common name for N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, is the most common active ingredient in insect repellents. Developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and patented by the U.S. Army in 1946, DEET is considered the "gold standard" of insect repellents. Worldwide, more than 200 million people use DEET to ward off vectorborne diseases.

But DEET's mode of action or how it works has puzzled scientists for more than 50 years. Scientists long surmised that DEET masks the smell of the host, or jams or corrupts the insect's senses, interfering with its ability to locate a host. Mosquitoes and other blood-feeding insects find their hosts by body heat, skin odors, carbon dioxide (breath), or visual stimuli. Females need a blood meal to develop their eggs.

Leal said previous findings of other scientists showed a "false positive" resulting from the experimental design.

Entomologist Jim Miller of Michigan State University praised the UC Davis researchers' work as correcting "long-standing erroneous dogma."

"For decades we were told that DEET warded off mosquito bites because it blocked insect response to lactic acid from the host -- the key stimulus for blood-feeding," Miller said. "Dr. Leal and co-workers escaped the key stimulus over-simplification to show that mosquito responses -- like our own -- result from a balancing of various positive and negative factors, all impinging on a tiny brain more capable than most people think of sophisticated decision-making."

Miller added that the UC Davis research shows that recent work on DEET mode-of-action, published in the journal Science, apparently was "flat-out wrong."

"One of the great attributes of science is that, over time, it is self-correcting," he said.

Mosquitoes detect DEET and other smells with their antennae. Leal and researcher Zain Syed discovered the exact neurons on the antennae that detect DEET (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide). These neurons are located beside other neurons that sense a chemical, 1-octen-3-ol, known to attract mosquitoes.

"I was so delighted when I first encountered the neuron that detects DEET, a synthetic compound," said Syed. "I couldn't believe my eyes because it goes against conventional wisdom. So I repeated the experiment over and over until we discussed the findings in the lab."

The UC Davis investigators set up odorless sugar-feeding stations, including some that contained DEET, and found that DEET actively repelled Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes, also known as Southern house mosquitoes. The mosquito transmits West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, and lymphatic filariasis, a disease caused by threadlike parasitic worms.

"Despite the fact that DEET is the industry standard mosquito repellent, relatively little is known about how it actually works," said UC Davis research entomologist William Reisen. "Previous studies have suggested a 'masking' or 'binding' with host emanations. Understanding the mode of action is especially important because DEET is used as the standard against which all other tentative replacement repellents are compared."

Major Dhillon, president of the American Mosquito Control Association and district manager of the Northwest Mosquito and Vector Control District, Riverside, praised the UC Davis work as "a breakthrough."

"In the future, this new knowledge can be incorporated into developing new repellents and may be in control strategies for Culex quinquefasciatus and other mosquitoes," he said.

Research chemist Uli Bernier of the Mosquito and Fly Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, said the UC Davis study provides "an excellent explanation."

Bernier, who studies how repellents impact mosquitoes' feeding behavior, said the Leal-Syed work "presents as a very logical basis to help us understand how DEET is perceived by the mosquitoes, and this work provides an excellent explanation to link physiological processing within the mosquito to the (macroscopic) behavioral response that we observe in laboratory bioassays with this repellent."

Leal, a past president of the International Society of Chemical Ecology, received the 2007 Silverstein-Simeone Lecture Award for his innovative research on how insects detect smells and communicate within their species. He is former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8761">
<title>New Book Provides Road Map for Finding the Right College</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8761</link>
<description><![CDATA[Even as the nation's high school students settle into a new academic year, the next step -- where to apply to college -- is on the minds of many. A new book by Richard C. Dorf, a professor at the University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management, provides a systematic and comprehensive road map.

The College Journey: From College to Career 2009 (Davis Press, Inc., July 2008, 264 pages) is based on the premise that there is a best school for every prospective college student and offers a practical algorithm to find the right fit.

"The best college is one that helps the student find his or her place in society and prepare for a life of contribution and career," Dorf says. "Each college -- whether a small, liberal arts school, a research university, an elite university, or a focused or vocational college -- has its own goals, strengths, character, situation and culture. Students are most likely to be successful at a school where they really fit in and are happy about their choice."

Intended primarily for parents, the book is also meant to be shared and discussed with the future college student, ideally at the start of the teen's junior year in high school.

The College Journey guides readers through a comprehensive, seven-step process that moves from identifying values and goals to narrowing the field of possible schools to four top options. After college acceptance letters arrive, the same process is used to select the final college for enrollment.

Developed over the past three years, the book is informed by both current research into education and learning and by Dorf's personal interest in the student experience, honed during his decades-long career in academia. It includes detailed descriptions and examples of more than 150 colleges and universities, all visited by Dorf.

Dorf is a professor emeritus of management at UC Davis, where he directs the MBA Consulting Center. He is also professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the university. The author of more than 30 books, Dorf is co-founder of six technology firms and three publishing companies. More information about his new book is available at www.bestcollegematch.com.]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8737">
<title>Self-esteem in Chinese Adolescents</title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8737</link>
<description><![CDATA[In metropolitan China, high school students' self-esteem depends more on good relations with peers than parents, a new UC Davis study shows. But the opposite is true for younger adolescents and young adults: Both base their self-esteem more on good relations with parents.

The study by Hairong Song, a doctoral candidate in psychology; Emilio Ferrer-Caja, an associate professor of psychology; and Ross Thompson, a professor of psychology, was presented today at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.

The UC Davis researchers surveyed 584 students ages 11 to 23 from Guangzhou and Hangzhou. The students filled out questionnaires that assessed the quality of their relationships with their mothers, fathers and peers. They also filled out self-evaluations that measured self-esteem.

"This study suggests that high school is a period of special challenge to Chinese adolescents because of the competitive academic pressures they face. High school is a time when many Chinese adolescents experience intense pressures from parents to perform well in school," Thompson said.

"Even in a society that traditionally emphasizes family ties, enhanced by the government's one-child policy, competition to get into the best universities may be causing high-schoolers to turn to their peers for support and affirmation."]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8750">
<title>UC Davis Centennial Exhibition Opens With State Fair </title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8750</link>
<description><![CDATA[The University of California, Davis, launches its 100th birthday celebration this Friday, Aug. 15, at the California State Fair, with a featured exhibit on the university's contributions to science and society.

The UC Davis exhibition, titled "Dream Big," fills a 6,000-square-foot hall where fairgoers are invited to explore some of the university's work in five areas: food and agriculture, energy, environment, health, and community building and global understanding.

"I hope you'll join us in toasting our 100th year of doing what matters to California and to the world," Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef said in a recent e-mail message to alumni and campus friends, encouraging them to visit the fair and the university, too, as the centennial celebration continues through the 2008-09 academic year.

The fair is set to run for 18 consecutive days, through Labor Day, Sept. 1, at Cal Expo in Sacramento. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Labor Day, and noon to 10 p.m. all other days.

Nearly a million people are expected to pass through the fair gates. UC Davis is stationing campus ambassadors in its air-conditioned pavilion, Expo Center 3, to show people around and answer questions.

Here is a glimpse of the exhibition:


From Farm to Fork -- UC Davis scientists have made great strides in tomato, grape and strawberry production, and fairgoers are invited to do the same -- in jigsaw puzzle fashion. Different puzzle pieces represent different traits, such as color, juiciness and sweetness, and mold and pest resistance.

You will find the puzzles in a mini metal silo, representing a campus landmark that harkens to UC Davis' founding as the University Farm.

A Clean Energy Future -- See the dramatic reduction in emissions from an alternative-fuel car. Fairgoers also can see a display of energy-saving lighting -- at the touch of a button.

A Sustainable Environment -- Learn about a professor's innovative approach to sustainability: a biodigester that converts food waste to energy. The exhibition features a whimsical replica that runs on tokens instead of food scraps. Bells and whistles go off on the cartoon-like biodigester, it shakes, and then voila! -- the lights switch on.

"We are making it come alive. And while we're making it fun, we are not losing sight of the importance," said design professor Tim McNeil, who joined some of his students and the university's centennial planning team in coming up with concepts for the state fair pavilion.

The exhibition's environment zone also includes the continuous showing of California Calamities, a three-dimensional movie about earthquakes, landslides and flooding.

The movie from the university's Keck CAVES, short for Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences, will turn you into a geological "insider." Your 3-D glasses will enable an underground tour during which you will venture into an earthquake fault and burrow into a levee, for example.

Longer, Healthier Lives -- Showcasing the university's medical breakthroughs, and different ways that caregivers are reaching out to the public with new treatments and healing strategies.

Much of today's medical research revolves around DNA -- and it takes center stage every afternoon when fairgoers are invited to make DNA necklaces: you swab your mouth to gather some skin cells, put the cells in a solution, put the solution into a vial, and put the vial on the necklace. Hours for this activity are 12:30 to 2 and 3:30 to 5 p.m.

The human brain also has a starring role in the exhibition. Look up to see flashing lights that simulate the firing of synapses. Down below, fairgoers can tackle puzzles and memory games that demonstrate the university's research into the mind.

Across the Street and Across the Globe -- Newspaper headlines show the contributions that UC Davis experts make to our economy and society.

Areas of study are exemplified by samples from a variety of campus collections -- for example, a 1908 graduation dress from the Design Museum; art from the Nelson Gallery and the C.N. Gorman Museum; and artifacts from music, theater and dance. Also included are recent ceramic projects from the Art-Science Fusion Program.


Much more about UC Davis can be learned from NewsWatch videos showing continuously around the "Dream Big" hall. The television segments, produced by the university for KVIE-TV, showcase UC Davis research and other news.

A live video feed shows the happenings at the livestock nursery, which is run by UC Davis.

Everything in the exhibition is intended to encourage the public to spend some time at the university. "The idea is, we're making a difference in your community, so come visit ours," said Assistant Vice Chancellor Bob Segar, who leads the centennial organizing team.

The exhibition launches a yearlong celebration of 100 years of UC Davis history -- dating from the 1908-09 academic year when the first students came to live on campus.

After the state fair, the celebration comes home to the Davis campus for the 2008-09 academic year -- and the arrival of the Centennial Class of new freshmen and transfer students.

Instruction is set to begin Thursday, Sept. 25, one day after the chancellor's Fall Convocation.

The convocation is scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m. Sept. 24 in Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. This year's theme is "A Century of Doing What Matters," with speakers representing faculty, staff, students, alumni and the community.

The centennial celebration continues with the Fall Festival, Oct. 10-15. Highlights include the grand opening of the Davis campus's newest academic buildings, the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science; and the unveiling of Centennial Walk, a new pathway across the campus's historic Quad.

The weekend of Oct. 11-12 includes an Academic Showcase; the homecoming football game against Southern Utah under the new lights at Aggie Stadium; and a street fair hosted by the Davis Chamber of Commerce, recognizing the university's ties to the city of Davis and the larger region.

On the Net:
UC Davis Centennial: http://centennial.ucdavis.edu
California State Fair: http://www.bigfun.org]]></description>
</item>

<item rdf:about="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8751">
<title>Experts: UC Davis Centennial Exhibit </title>
<link>http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=8751</link>
<description><![CDATA[The University of California, Davis, is hosting a centennial exhibition at the California State Fair this summer to showcase the university's expertise in the sciences, arts and society. The state fair, at Cal Expo in Sacramento, is open Aug. 15-Labor Day, Sept. 1. The following experts are available to comment on the five areas highlighted in UC Davis' "Dream Big" exhibit in the 6,000-square-foot hall.


	From farm to fork
	A clean energy future
	A sustainable environment
	Longer, healthier lives
	Across the street and across the globe


FROM FARM TO FORK

A TASTIER, HARDIER STRAWBERRY -- Douglas Shaw, a professor of plant sciences, is an authority on the genetics and breeding of strawberries and other small fruits. His research focuses on developing new and improved strawberry varieties that produce high-quality fruit, can be efficiently harvested and are resistant to various environmental stresses. He also works to develop more efficient methods for breeding, testing and selecting plants that are propagated for commercial strawberry production. Shaw also studies how strawberry flavor and color are inherited. UC Davis has a long history in strawberry breeding. Approximately 60 percent of the world's strawberries are now produced using one of the 12 varieties developed and released by UC Davis. Contact: Douglas Shaw, Plant Sciences, (530) 752-0905, dvshaw@ucdavis.edu. (He will be in and out of the office doing fieldwork, but will respond to inquiries when possible.)

LOW CARBON DIET -- Gail Feenstra, food systems analyst at the UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute (ASI) and the statewide UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, is collaborating with other campus researchers on an analysis of a reduced carbon footprint diet -- a life cycle assessment that measures energy and carbon emissions/green house gases from farm to fork. She and the "food carbon footprint" team are calculating the energy and carbon emissions for specific food items, starting with rice and tomatoes, two Yolo County crops. "We want to measure the global warming potential of regional diets," Feenstra said. Contact Gail Feenstra at (530) 752-8408, or (530) 574-4794, gwfeenstra@ucdavis.edu.

NUTRITION AND FITNESS -- Liz Applegate, a nationally renowned expert on nutrition and fitness, is a faculty member in the nutrition department and the director of sports nutrition. Applegate consults frequently for U.S. Olympic athletes and is the team nutritionist for the Oakland Raiders football team. She is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a member of the Sports and Cardiovascular Nutritionists, a practice group of the American Dietetic Association. Applegate also writes the popular Fridge Wisdom nutrition column for Runners World magazine and has authored six books on nutrition. Contact: Liz Applegate, Nutrition, (530) 752-6682, eaapplegate@ucdavis.edu.

RICE PRODUCTION HERE AND EVERYWHERE -- Jim Hill, associate dean for international programs in UC Davis' College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and a UC Cooperative Extension specialist, is an international authority on how rice crops are grown. His work focuses not only on increasing rice productivity but also on improving the environmental effects of rice-farming methods. In collaboration with the California Rice Commission, Ducks Unlimited, and others, he has conducted research on winter-flooding to enhance waterfowl habitat. He recently spent three years
at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines,
coordinating irrigated-rice research and outreach efforts throughout Asia's rice-production areas. Contact: Jim Hill, Agronomy and Range Science, (530)
752-3458 or (530) 754-9600, jehill@ucdavis.edu.

SUSTAINABILITY VIA GENETIC ENGINEERING AND ORGANIC FARMING -- Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak are co-authors of "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food," published in April 2008 by Oxford University Press. Together, they are exploring the juncture where genetic engineering and organic farming can meet to ensure environmentally sustainable food production.

Ronald is a professor in UC Davis' Department of Plant Pathology. Her laboratory has genetically engineered rice for resistance to diseases and flooding. Her work has been published in Science, Nature and other scientific periodicals and has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde and on National Public Radio. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She also writes a blog at http://pamelaronald.blogspot.com/.

Adamchak has grown organic crops for 20 years, part of that time as a partner in Full Belly Farm, a private 150-acre organic vegetable farm. He has inspected more than 100 organic farms as an inspector for California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and served as a member and president of that group's board of directors. He is now coordinator of the Market Garden at UC Davis' Student Farm. Contacts: Pam Ronald, Plant Pathology, (530)752-1654, or on her cell phone, (530)219-4618, pcronald@ucdavis.edu; Raoul Adamchak, Plant Sciences, (530) 752-7655, rwadamchak@ucdavis.edu.

FOOD AND CULTURE -- UC Davis English professor Timothy Morton can discuss how food consumerism originated during the Romantic movement of 1790-1830. Morton says much of the Western food culture today -- ranging from picnics and restaurants to drinking mineral water and practicing vegetarianism -- stemmed from 200 years ago. Morton is particularly interested in relationships between culture and the natural and global environment, with emphasis on food studies. He edited "Cultures of Taste/Theories of Appetite: Eating Romanticism" (2004) and wrote "The Poetics of Spice: Romantic Consumerism and the Exotic" (2000) and "Shelley and the Revolution in Taste: The Body and the Natural World" (1994). His forthcoming book, "Ecology Without Nature: Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics," talks about food and Romantic cultural legacies today. Contact: Timothy Morton, English, tbmorton@ucdavis.edu.

A CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

THE CAR OF TOMORROW -- UC Davis transportation expert Daniel Sperling is an international authority on the feasibility of alternative car and truck fuels, such as biofuels and electricity, and the security of our existing transportation-fuels system. Sperling is a UC Davis professor of civil engineering and of environmental science and policy, and founding director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS-Davis). He regularly advises national and international policymakers and industry leaders on transportation technology assessment, energy and environmental aspects of transportation, and transportation policy. Contact: Daniel Sperling, ITS-Davis, (530) 752-7434, dsperling@ucdavis.edu.

LIGHTING'S BRIGHT FUTURE -- Michael Siminovitch, director of the UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center and a professor of design, can talk about how efficient lighting systems can lead to energy savings. He has been designing such systems for the past two decades, including the Berkeley Lamp, which uses one-quarter the energy of traditional lamps, and an innovative fluorescent lighting system. The state fair exhibit includes a display of energy-saving lighting -- at the touch of a button. The lighting center conducts both cooperative and independent activities with lighting manufacturers, electric utilities and the design and engineering professional communities. Many new lighting designs and systems are on display at the center's Davis laboratories. Contact: Michael Siminovitch, CLTC, (530) 754-7616, mjsiminovitch@ucdavis.edu.

PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLES -- Andrew Frank, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at UC Davis, is recognized as the father of "plug-in" gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles. Unlike commercially available hybrid vehicles, a plug-in hybrid can recharge its batteries from a domestic power supply. For short, everyday journeys, the vehicles can operate almost entirely on battery power, reducing fuel costs and emissions. The new Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis, established in January, is helping policymakers, energy suppliers and automakers learn how consumers will use plug-in hybrids. The Plug-in Hybrid Center has $3 million in funding from the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program and $1.8 million from the California Air Resources Board. The center is directed by research anthropologist Tom Turrentine. Contacts: Andrew Frank, Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, (530) 752-8120, aafrank@ucdavis.edu; Tom Turrentine, Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Center, tturrentine@ucdavis.

A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

TURNING GARBAGE INTO BIOGAS -- UC Davis bioenvironmental engineer Ruihong Zhang sees a vast untapped energy resource in yard clippings, household table scraps and other biodegradable materials: converting that garbage into enough energy to keep the lights burning in thousands of California homes. Zhang is building a prototypical anaerobic digester, part of a $4 million project funded by the California Energy Commission and industry partners. A fanciful simulation of Zhang's biodigester is a centerpiece of the state fair's centennial exhibit. Contact: Ruihong Zhang, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, (530) 754-9530, rhzhang@ucdavis.edu (available by phone or e-mail Aug. 15-16 and Aug. 25- Sept. 1; available only by e-mail Aug. 17-24).

VIRTUAL REALITY IN EARTH SCIENCES --The W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences (Keck CAVES) at UC Davis allows researchers to step inside their data in a three-dimensional virtual reality environment. A unique collaboration between geologists and computer scientists means that researchers can not just look at their data in a new way, but handle it, carry out "virtual experiments" and get results in real time. The state fair exhibit includes the continuous screening of a Keck CAVES 3-D movie -- complete with loaner 3-D glasses -- that takes fairgoers on an underground geological tour. The campus facility is currently being used for studies of the deep interior of the Earth, examining surface features of the Earth and Mars, and for new ways to look at rocks and fossil specimens. The scientists have also collaborated with the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance on a multimedia stage production, COLLAPSE, presented in 2007. The facility was established with a grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation and is also funded by the National Science Foundation. Contact: Louise Kellogg, Geology, (530) 754-6673, Kellogg@geology.ucdavis.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING PRACTICES REDUCE POLLUTION -- California is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the U.S., of which eight percent of carbon dioxide and 59 percent of nitrous oxide emissions are from agricultural activities. The adoption of subsurface drip irrigation, which decreases water use and cuts greenhouse gas emissions, is increasing in the Central Valley but still is less than 15 percent of all irrigation, according to Will Horwath, J.G. Boswell Endowed Chair in Soil Science at UC Davis. Horwath can talk about how subsurface drip irrigation limits the water delivery to a small area, which reduces the activity of soil microorganisms and processes related to trace gas emissions. He is coordinator of a 20-year sustainable agriculture farming systems project and hopes that results on the economics of drip irrigation will help growers evaluate the benefits of alternative irrigation systems. Contact Horwath at (530) 754-6029, wrhorwath@ucdavis.edu.

LONGER, HEALTHIER LIVES

THE WAR ON PAIN -- Scott Fishman, M.D., is an internationally recognized expert in pain management and author of the 2000 book, "The War on Pain." As a professor of anesthesiology, and past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, Dr. Fishman can discuss the various measures physicians can now use, including everything from new drugs and technologies to alternative medicine, to provide relief for those suffering from chronic pain. Contact Dr. Fishman through Charlie Casey, senior public information officer, office (916) 734-9048, pager (916) 762-3047, charles.casey@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.

OVERCOMING DISTANCE FOR SPECIALTY CARE -- Thomas Nesbitt, M.D., M.P.H., can speak about the advances that telecommunications technology has made to improve access to and the delivery of specialty care services to rural and medically underserved communities throughout the state. UC Davis physicians have conducted more than 14,000 video consultations since 1997 and are leading a statewide and national effort to expand telemedicine services to even more rural and remote clinics and hospitals. Contact Dr. Fishman through Charlie Casey, senior public information officer, office (916) 734-9048, pager (916) 762-3047, charles.casey@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.

KEEPING KIDS MENTALLY HEALTHY -- Robert Hendren, D.O., executive director, UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, can speak about the pharmacological management and treatment of children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, including autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders and impulse control disorders. He can discuss leading edge-research that is under way at UC Davis, as well as discuss controversial approaches to treatment, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Contact Dr. Hendren through Phyllis Brown, senior public information officer, office (916) 734-9023, pager (916) 762-3047, cell (916) 730-1496, phyllis.brown@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu.

BETTER BODIES THROUGH TECHNOLOGY -- Carolyn de la Pe񡬠a UC Davis assistant professor of American studies, can talk about the history of quack products that promise better bodies and the relationship between energy devices and legitimate/illegitimate medical practices. According to de la Pe񡬠early 20th century attitudes about using technology to release latent energy and reverse physical decline have carried over to today. She can talk about how Americans work out key cultural myths about our physical capabilities through popular culture such as in comic book heroes. De la Pe񡧳 book, "The Body Electric: How Strange Machines Built the Modern American," was published in 2003. Contact: Carolyn de la Pe񡬠American Studies, (530)752-8965, ctdelapena@ucdavis.edu.

AIR POLLUTION, CLIMATE AND HEALTH -- Anthony Wexler, director of the UC Davis Air Quality Research Center, studies the chemical and physical nature of air pollution. He is co-director of an $8 million U.S. EPA research grant to study air pollution in California's huge San Joaquin Valley, where bad air causes the nation's highest rates of asthma in children. He also studies how tiny airborne particles contribute to global climate change. Contact: Anthony Wexler, Air Quality Research Center, office (530) 754-6558, cell (530) 574-8813, aswexler@ucdavis.edu (available through August 28).

ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE GLOBE

ECONOMICS OF TRANSPORTATION -- UC Davis economist Christopher Knittel can talk about transportation economics, especially how the various markets relate to transportation function. A specialist in the economics of industrial organization, Knittel teaches about the various transportation industries: automobile, airline and oil. He also can explain the dynamics between demand for various autos and government regulation of the industry, and how consumers make decisions on cars with better mileage when gasoline prices skyrocket. Contact: Christopher Knittel, Economics, (530) 752-3344, crknittel@ucdavis.edu.

RACE RELATIONS -- Professor Bill Ong Hing, who has appointments in the UC Davis School of Law and Asian American studies, is an expert in race relations, immigration law and history, and Asian American community issues. In "Deporting Our Souls: Values, Morality, and Immigration Policy," forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, Hing examines moral issues and immigration policy. In "Defining America Through Immigration Policy" (2004), Hing explores links between traditional racial concepts of who is a true American and how we enforce federal immigration policies. The professor says we have "de-Americanized" South Asian, Muslim and Arab immigrants. His other books include "To Be an American -- Cultural Pluralism and the Rhetoric of Assimilation" (1997). Contact: Bill Ong Hing, School of Law and Asian American Studies, (530) 754-9377, cell (415)846-2122 bhing@ucdavis.edu.

EMPLOYMENT IN THE 'NEW ECONOMY' -- Jobs scholar Vicki Smith, professor and chair of sociology, can talk about the changing nature of work, especially the rise in job insecurity in recent decades. She is the author of the 2008 book, "The Good Temp," which analyzes the temporary employment industry, and "Crossing the Great Divide: Worker Risk and Opportunity in the New Economy," published in 2001. Contact: Vicki Smith, Sociology, (530) 752-6170, vasmith@ucdavis.edu.

IMMIGRATION POLICY AND CIVIL RIGHTS -- Kevin Johnson, the Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law at UC Davis, is a nationally and internationally recognized expert on immigration and civil rights. Johnson is also dean of the School of Law and a professor of Chicana/o studies. His books include "Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws" and "The 'Huddled Masses' Myth: Immigration and Civil Rights." He is co-editor of the Immigration Prof blog http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/ and a member of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's Immigration Policy Group. Contact: Kevin Johnson, School of Law, (530) 752-0243, krjohnson@ucdavis.edu.]]></description>
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